We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tony Santoro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tony below.
Tony , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear a story from back when you were an intern or apprentice. What’s a memorable story you can share with us?
I was a broke teacher with a wife, 2 kids, almost no money in the bank, and a hobby. I’d never started a business, never ran a business, & did not believe I could make this work. It was a scary place to be.
I hit a season where I did not know what I was going to do, but I knew teaching was not cutting it. I began throwing resumes around to anyone paying $50k. A good friend of mine was growing his own business, a consulting company. I had huge respect for his journey from corporate to doing his own thing. One night he asked me, “What do you really want to be doing?”. I insisted I’d love to grow my coffee roasting business.
That friend offered me a role at his company & encouragement, all with the understanding that the job’s purpose was to create a runway for me to launch into coffee roasting. So that is what I did. I quit teaching to work finance & operations for a consulting company 32 hours a week. I went from teaching 7th graders to working in an industry and company I had no business working in, all in about 30 days.
It was in this role that I entered naive and terrified. I had never worked outside of a school or restaurant. I did not know what I was doing (honestly, I still don’t). For 13 months I reported to the office 32 hours a week, then with any and every free time I had I was working on growing my company. It was in this role at this company that I learned basic finance practices, basic HR practices, financial forecasting, even some sales strategy.
I believe that I became an asset over time to them, though I definitely had my initial doubts. But this time with the company was the best education I had to help prepare me for entrepreneurship. No classrooms, no cohorts. I was in it, I was doing it. I was around it every day. I left the company after 13 months with the framework of the company I wanted to build and put it into action.
This time, and this friend, gave me the confidence that propelled me to where we are today. That was 2014-2015. It is now 2023. I believe that time learning “on the job” is the best training one can look for.
Tony , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My wife and I love coffee, we always have. 20 years ago I used to frequent the coffee shop that she was a barista at, to “get my daily coffee”. When dating, we would get coffee with our dessert, never wine. It is a comfort we have always shared. We both became passionate teachers, fueled by coffee, and really loved our life. Well, everything except for the pay. 2 kids in daycare, student loans, a mortgage and we would see our paychecks gone as quickly as they came in. We relished the once a month date night where we could treat ourselves to a meal out a restaurant.
I began roasting coffee as a hobby after seeing on Youtube that you can roast coffee in a popcorn air popper. It was fascinating! We quickly found that others were interested in this Homemade coffee experiment, so we began sharing with others, then our church, then a coworking space, before realizing that this is something that we really would like to do!
So, based in the Enderly Park neighborhood where we lived, we formed Enderly Coffee Company: a coffee roasting company seeking to make a positive impact on its neighborhood and world. We are a wholesale roaster focusing on supporting businesses with coffee consultation, equipment, training, planning, etc. all while sourcing and roasting some really great specialty coffee. I knocked on doors, a LOT of doors, looking for anyone interested in trying our coffee (both residential & commercial). I set up a coffee bar on a folding table at events, a LOT of events, looking to tell anyone interested about our company.
So over the past 11 years we have provided homes & businesses with a local, caffeinated product that is ethically sourced and from an ethically run company. We are proud that we have grown one of Charlotte’s premiere coffee roasting companies by being authentically us, all by bootstrapping. Since launching, we have launched a cafe in our neighborhood, grown our local distribution around our region, and gone from a backyard hobby to selling through more than 650 grocery stores up and down the east coast. But what we are most proud of is the way we have done it. We treat our staff really well, pay them well, create benefits for them, etc. We have built direct relationships with a few farmers and have grown our purchasing from them consistently over the years, paying a fair price and providing sustainability to their community as well as ours.
My wife and I still love coffee, we always will. 20 years later we now own a coffee shop & roasting company, have 4 kids, and are so very thankful everyday for the comfort the coffee still provides. At our age we may not get coffee with our dessert anymore (there is no way we would ever fall asleep), but we are so very grateful that households around America are finding the same comfort we have always gotten from this simple product.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
In 7th grade Mr Gust gave me a nickname, Chuckles. I was shy, like REAL shy. Instead of speaking he said he only ever heard me chuckle. Maybe I never felt my voice was valid? Maybe as a middle child I truly internalized my invisibility. I liked that name, it was an easy way to get some attention without being in the front or having to be seen. I was terrified to be the center of attention. I didn’t (and still don’t) even like opening birthday presents in front of people.
Reflecting on the last 11 years… oh my this business has made me grow. Through ups & downs, I (Chuckles) have had to be very uncomfortable. Managing people is hard. Selling a product is hard. Putting my face on Instagram is hard. Chuckles would have never scripted these things, but I am so glad that I did. I had to unlearn those feelings about my self, I still am a work in progress. I would not say I am confident, but I trust myself more. I would not say I like to be the center of attention still, but I LOVE getting to talk with other people about entrepreneurship and share any nuggets that I believe may be helpful.
It’s important that we grow. As a parent of four kids, this is a constant theme I hope they absorb (and also not taking ourselves too seriously). Life is hard, we adapt.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
I was a broke teacher.
I took $500 to buy green coffee beans & supplies, knowing I could turn that into $1000. Then turn that $1000 into $2000. I worked out of my house & shed. I took no money initially. I built up a following and a little cash.
Eventually I did a crowdfunding campaign to buy my first commercial roaster. Initially I did not build out a space for myself, for the first 7 years I sort of “slept on people’s couches”. This means I would find the simplest ways to make my business operational so that I could grow it. I put my roasting machine in a commissary kitchen and work 3rd shift. I put my roastery in less than desirable places, though they got the job done.
This was so important because it allowed me to self fund and not need to overextend myself with loans or investors. The alternative was to take out money, go all in on a business that was not proven, and potentially being overextended. This alternative was too risky for me and felt restrictive. We have always tried to be authentically us and this alternative may have prevented that in some ways.
Slow, organic growth. Consistent, quality product & experience for the win. Patience & sacrifice.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.enderlycoffee.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enderlycoffeeco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EnderlyCoffeeCo
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/33211770/admin/feed/posts/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/enderlycoffeeco
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@tonysantoro4884?si=yAFq6JRrs4G51GQD
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/enderly-coffee-co-charlotte-2
Image Credits
Jonathan Cooper (product & process photos) https://www.coopernicusphotos.com Julia Faye (headshot) https://www.juliafayphotography.com